Duggars show faith in Santorum

Of all the campaign surrogates on the trail this cycle, Rick Santorum can legitimately claim the biggest.

His most faithful supporters are the Duggars, the stars of the television reality show “19 Kids and Counting.” They include parents Jim Bob and Michelle and their 19 children, ranging in age from 24 to two. Members of the clan follow Santorum from stop-to-stop, collecting donations from supporters and talking up the former Pennsylvania senator’s values and policy stances. The Duggars themselves often serve as a second attraction to the candidate, signing family autographs with Bible verses.

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The Duggars are a longtime television fixture, famous for the “19 Kids and Counting” show that features the trials and tribulations of everyday life with a family more suited to a bus than a minivan. And the family does have its own bus — bearing Santorum’s name — as it hits the road.

For Santorum, campaigning as faith and family-candidate, campaigning with the Duggars, gives him the chance to showcase his traditional values. And with seven kids of his own at home in Northern Virginia, the similarities between the Santorums and the Duggars are striking.

Jim Bob Duggar, in an interview with POLITICO, drew parallels between the Santorum family and his own, and said it was Santorum’s policies as much as his personal background that drew the two clans together.

“Back in December, we were just praying about who to support for president and there was like ten candidates running. And we went through every one of them and looked to see which one kind of represented the values that we believe in and Rick Santorum is somebody that, he has a consistent track record,” he said.

Karen and Rick Santorum “have a heart for families and they have a genuine love for others and they are not running this race to promote themselves for their political future,” he added.

“They are running because they genuinely care about our country and the future of our nation and they really want to make a difference, and their whole family is committed to this.”

The two families share a visibly easy relationship, with Santorum occasionally making jokes comparing his number of children — seven, an eighth child died shortly after birth — to the Duggars. Santorum, speaking to supporters at a Moline, Ill., rally said while he and his wife are “done” having children, their flock — in numbers — still pales in comparison to the Duggars.